This blog has been helpful at times but also not at times. I like feedback that is face to face and visual (I'm a visual person) so not having that makes it a little useless. I also know that I wasn't very productive at giving any feedback and that is one of the most important things about this. I hope that I can continue posting work, but this blog feels more like my own documentation rather than for others.
-until next time this is what i have to say for now...
Thursday, February 25, 2010
A Read
I just read a very interesting article, "Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men: An Inquiry Into the Cultural Meanings of Landscape Photography" by Deborah Bright.
I really liked the article even though it was published 1985, I really think it touches on a lot of things I'm questioning about this entire assignment. The article first looks at the increased popularity of landscape photography as "coffee-table" books. It looks at the history of landscape photography and the importance of asking questions. "Whatever the Photographer's claims, landscapes as subject matter in photography can be analyzed as docuemnts exteding beyond the formally aeshetic or personally expressive.
Questions we might ask:
What ideologies landscape photographs perpetuate
In whose interest they were conceived
Why we still desire to make and consume them <---- Me in particular i would say
Why the art of landscape photography remains so singularly identified with a masculine eye <--- well I am no man, so this is interesting because I'm asking the questions and I'm female... hhhmmm.... (words for thought)
I really enjoyed the article, it looked at photography being the means of representation for the west and the parks out west and documentation for what can be seen if one might travel. It discussed Minor White and Ansel Adams having intuition and expression be central issues. But in contrast photographers Robert Adams photographing resisting interpretation and self influence. Furthermore it discussed women photographing landscapes and the irony that women are "of the land" being natural and yet a woman's eye of landscape photography is not dominate or at times available to see. Last we see into different interpretations. Urban studies by scholars such as Kevin Lynch, Grady Clay, and geographer David Lowenthal show a seperate view of landscapes as organized spaces, like an architectural structure, rather than as timeless and primordial.
Overall I'm not sure I can come to a conclusion of Landscapes. There are many different views, interpretations, conclusions and questions to be asked. Maybe it is a question of who is the photographer, and why this interpretation? Is it even about the landscape? Or is it about society and why landscapes can't just be the subject matter. I will leave with a line from the final paragraph of the article. I'm more engrossed in thought and questioning than ever before...
"Landscape is not the ideologically neutral subject many imagine it to be. Rather, it is an historical artifact that can be viewed as a record of the material facts of our social reality and what we have chosen to make of them."
I really liked the article even though it was published 1985, I really think it touches on a lot of things I'm questioning about this entire assignment. The article first looks at the increased popularity of landscape photography as "coffee-table" books. It looks at the history of landscape photography and the importance of asking questions. "Whatever the Photographer's claims, landscapes as subject matter in photography can be analyzed as docuemnts exteding beyond the formally aeshetic or personally expressive.
Questions we might ask:
What ideologies landscape photographs perpetuate
In whose interest they were conceived
Why we still desire to make and consume them <---- Me in particular i would say
Why the art of landscape photography remains so singularly identified with a masculine eye <--- well I am no man, so this is interesting because I'm asking the questions and I'm female... hhhmmm.... (words for thought)
I really enjoyed the article, it looked at photography being the means of representation for the west and the parks out west and documentation for what can be seen if one might travel. It discussed Minor White and Ansel Adams having intuition and expression be central issues. But in contrast photographers Robert Adams photographing resisting interpretation and self influence. Furthermore it discussed women photographing landscapes and the irony that women are "of the land" being natural and yet a woman's eye of landscape photography is not dominate or at times available to see. Last we see into different interpretations. Urban studies by scholars such as Kevin Lynch, Grady Clay, and geographer David Lowenthal show a seperate view of landscapes as organized spaces, like an architectural structure, rather than as timeless and primordial.
Overall I'm not sure I can come to a conclusion of Landscapes. There are many different views, interpretations, conclusions and questions to be asked. Maybe it is a question of who is the photographer, and why this interpretation? Is it even about the landscape? Or is it about society and why landscapes can't just be the subject matter. I will leave with a line from the final paragraph of the article. I'm more engrossed in thought and questioning than ever before...
"Landscape is not the ideologically neutral subject many imagine it to be. Rather, it is an historical artifact that can be viewed as a record of the material facts of our social reality and what we have chosen to make of them."
Ah Ha!
I'm not having that ah ha! moment yet. Janie and Brian were right in saying that I don't have a break out image that says Ah Ha! -Landscape- so, that's what I've been working on and I need to find the ah ha! moment... wish me luck!
I need to shoot for the people!!
SOOOO, these posts are a little behind but I'm trying to wrap this up. I need to shoot for the people... at our last crit it was more at documenting the scenery and not shooting for the people. I know everyone gave me instructions and I took those and shot those along with my interpretations and it became a mix of ideas. The shots aren't strong and I need to shoot more exact to the specifications that were listed. I thank you again for the input and I will be posting images from the crit.
more to come..
more to come..
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Framing
Well, framing was a whole lot of fun, but never an easy task and always showing surprises. I was surprised that the frame I had chosen had a positive and negative response. I do love the frame, untouched wood in its near natural form is always something I like to see. For some reason it felt right for the image I had chosen, but was definitely not the right proportions for the wide angle shot, they would need to be changed! But thanks for everyone's feedback, I'm glad that the magnetic (interactive) photograph was something interesting and actually some of you messed with it. I will upload the frame with picture and to come..... MORE IMAGES!
PS
Thanks to all of you for your feedback on landscapes=love so I will do my best to use your feedback for further shooting... can't promise blue skies and fluffy clouds but I will do my best. Looking forward to night shots... haven't had time for location so it will happen soon ASAP!!
PS
Thanks to all of you for your feedback on landscapes=love so I will do my best to use your feedback for further shooting... can't promise blue skies and fluffy clouds but I will do my best. Looking forward to night shots... haven't had time for location so it will happen soon ASAP!!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Now what to do.... What's your Landscape?
NOW! After a critique with the whole class.. I need your criteria for a landscape. --->> What is your idea of the perfect landscape? Whats in it? What kind of lighting do you love? Is it 'traditional' or would you prefer and industrial, or urban landscape? Let me know!! I will send out a mass email to the class just as a reminder and also if you'd rather respond by email that is perfectly fine!
Critique
After we discussed the pictures I shot, it was really about what was the point of this project for me. Well I wasn't positive. I knew that I wanted to find a reason for landscapes to be so hated. We discussed me finding definitions of landscape, looking at different paintings and doing some more research. I asked Janie what she thought was a good definition of a landscape. From there I did a little searching finding out similarities that worked with what she had said. Then I shot more.
Next are a couple of images that I shot for more discovery on taking "landscape images" and I wasn't really sure what would happen.
Next are a couple of images that I shot for more discovery on taking "landscape images" and I wasn't really sure what would happen.
The beginning of this Project
Here are just a couple of images shooting and trying to figure out what it is I was looking for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)